Prior to the advent of computers, a person often kept track of contacts or addresses by means of a set of index cards, each of which included handwritten information about a single contact. Typically each card contained a contact's name as well as pertinent information or entries about that contact, such as his or her birthday, home address, home phone number, work facsimile number, cellular phone number, e-mail address, work address, work phone number, work facsimile number, related family members, pet names and types, whether he or she is to be sent a holiday greeting card, and so on. Obviously using hand-written cards to keep track of contacts can be cumbersome, especially when information about a contact repeatedly changes such that entries on his or her card must be repeatedly changed.
With the advent of computers and address book application programs, it has become common for the information or entries that used to be kept on index cards for contacts to be included in computerized address book databases. Having such contact information in a computerized address book database has numerous advantages related to sorting, editing and printing. For example, many address book application programs operate under an operating system, such as "WINDOWS 95" that is manufactured and sold by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., having a graphical user interface (GUI) that conveys information to and receives commands from a user. The GUI makes it very easy for a user to interact with a computerized address book database by providing a variety of functional elements or objects, including icons, text, numerals, drop-down menus, dialog boxes, toolbars, buttons, tabs and the like.
Conventional address book databases typically include contact records and group records. A contact record can be for any individual contact such as person, company or other entity. A contact record typically contains a name field and other types of fields, such as a birthday field, a home address field, a home phone number field, a work address field, a work phone number field and a wide variety of other fields. Each field of a contact record can contain an entry (i.e., data) that corresponds to the field type. That is, a name field typically contains a name entry, a birthday field typically contains a birthday entry, and so on. Entries in databases are typically assigned properties to distinguish different types of entries from one another. For example, name entries may be assigned a first property and birthday entries may be assigned a second property so that those entries can be distinguished and assigned to their corresponding fields.
A conventional group record typically contains a distribution list having properties that define a group, which is a collection of contact records. A conventional group record further contains a name field. Conventional address book application programs provide a screen display that can be used to create a new group or change the membership of an existing group. That screen display includes a compartment that includes a list of the names of the contact records that are members of the group, and a display compartment that includes a list of the names of all of the contact records in the address book database. The display compartments are typically equipped with vertical scroll bars that allow a user to scroll through the lists in the display compartments. A membership selection box is included next to each name in the display compartment that contains a list of all of the contact records in the address book database. Membership selection boxes next to the names of the contact records that are members of the group include a mark to indicate that those names are selected. Membership selection boxes next to the names of the contact records that are not members of the group do not include a mark, which indicates that those names are not selected. The membership of the group can be changed by selecting and unselecting the membership selection boxes.
Conventional address book application programs typically provide data entry screens with blanks or display compartments for receiving entries for a new contact. Such application programs also provide screen displays which can each be characterized as including a plurality of display compartments that are arranged in columns and rows. Each display compartment is a data entry blank (i.e., a space where data for entries of the address book database can be input and edited). Each row of display compartments corresponds to either a contact record or a group record. A heading above each column of display compartments identifies the type of field to which the display compartments in that column correspond. Each display compartment for the name field of a group record includes a symbol of an index card. Each display compartment for the name field of a record includes a selection box that can be selected or unselected for purposes of generating output, such as printouts, mailing labels, initiating telephone calls or other electronic communications, or the like. Only the entries contained in the fields of a contact record are displayed in display compartments that correspond to that contact record. Likewise, when a contact record is output, such as for printing, only the entries contained in the fields of the contact record are output.
While conventional address book application programs have many advantages over other techniques for keeping track of contacts, there is always a need for improved methods for keeping track of those contacts. For example, a problem with prior address book software products is that they tend to be best suited for keeping track of individuals and do not have a mechanism that efficiently keeps track of families. A family can be input as an individual record in prior address book software, but links between that record and the records for the individuals of that family are not automatically established. This makes it difficult to efficiently communicate with families as a whole, as special care must be taken to keep track of family relationships. This also makes it labor intensive to update address books when a family moves, as traditionally the address for each of the individuals of the moving family must be updated. That is, duplicate data must be entered, and that duplicate data unnecessarily consumes storage space.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for improved address book databases, systems and methods that provide mechanisms that efficiently keep track of families and minimize data entry and the number of entries contained in address book databases.